So, it would appear that the umbrella body representing Scotland's local councils, CoSLA, continues to put its own interests ahead of those of the lumpen proletariat that they purportedly serve, with the latest idea to separate "by at least one year" the ballots for the Scottish Parliament and local councils.
An eminently sensible idea Mr Smith may concede given the problems that were caused at this year's elections. A view that may even be shared by the proles.
The problem comes in actually implementing the CoSLA plan, given that the next council elections are due to be held in 2011, at the same time as the next scheduled Scottish Parliament elections. So to separate out the two would either mean shortening the term of office of the current crop of elected councillors to 2010, which Mr Smith suspects could not happen and would go down like a lead balloon with the ... er ... the lead balloons, or alternatively stretching their four year term of office to 2012, giving them five years in elected office without having to face the voters, longer than even Westminster Members of Parliament get. An idea that some councillors might think was a very good one and would bring them an extra £15,000 plus expenses in councillor's salary for the extra year.
Mr Smith would suggest that whatever the problems caused by council elections and Scottish Parliament elections on the same day, they are minuscule when compared to the problems of delivering CoSLA's plans, and perhaps therefore we should leave the entire issue well alone. After all, local government isn't supposed to be run for the convenience of our elected representatives.
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